Cannons to the left! Support Cannon Sword!

Alright, so this time, i’m back with support cannon sword! If you have been watched my streams, you would have seen me perform some amazing wins with this deck and quite honestly, I actually think support cannon is being slept on HARD in this meta game!

Overview

So at first glance, you might probably be thinking “This looks just like Midrange sword with support cannon thrown in”. While it is true that the decks have similarities, they are definitely not the same decks. The decisions that you make are very different for one main reason. Pretty sure it’s obvious but i’ll give you a hint: It begins with Support Cannon.

It’s one thing to have support cannon in the deck but it’s an entirely different matter to actually get to play it. There are some match ups where you cannot safely play a support cannon (well, you almost never play it safely lol) but there are some matches where you would rather not even play the support cannon at all and just focus on survival.

So you might be wondering “Aya, Why in the world are you pushing support cannon so hard? Isn’t it just a massive tempo loss when you play it?” Well random reader, yes! It is. But AFTER you take the risk of playing support cannon, if you are able to stabilize, you are going to be in control of the game as long as you play properly. I like to look at support cannon as free evo points every time I play a commander (Because we definitely needed more Luminous Mages)! (…)

Card Choices

Mars, Silent Flame General: I have been a huge fan of this card ever since its release and it fits quite naturally into this deck for a number of reasons. It is one of the best cards to be reduced by Gawain and can lead to some seriously powerful board states in the mid to late game. I am not always a fan of playing it in the early game, but sometimes, you don’t have a better line of play to and need to make sure to establish some form of tempo.

Valse, Magical Marksman: Every single sword deck should be playing 3 of this card until the end of time (unless they nerf it).

Barbarossa: He actually compliments support cannon very well. Being a card that you can constantly replay means that you always have a follower to trigger your cannon. Even without cannon, he is good at helping you preserve your evolution points.

Building Support Cannon

The support cannon deck has several different ways it can be built. It can be built using the all commander variant to ensure that you are always hitting with support cannon or you could use the “Cinderella” variant that takes advantage of her ability to be bounced back to her hand.

The reason I have chosen not to use either method is because you already have a difficult time with maintaining a board after dropping a support cannon. While both versions have their merits, they require an awful lot of setup to get going properly and that is not what I wanted to do with this version. If you are interested in the other versions of the deck, below you can find a shell in which to build from.

Cinderella Variation

3 Support cannon

2 Cinderella

You don’t want to run 3 because that is incredibly brick heavy. This happens to be a very strong turn 3 play as it has high stats. But it is important to note that you must have pay attention to how you are playing it. I have even seen pro’s completely mess up using this card by forgetting to attack first before bouncing back to hand and other things.

3 Princess Juliet

With this version, you can run Round Table Assembly to help give you that additional push that you need to help you win the game. Although, it can and will often conflict with your Cinderella’s.

Commander Variation

3 Support cannon

3 Innocent Princess Prim

It is important to note that if you play the enhance ability of this card while support cannon is in play, you will get the buff first before the cannon fires. So in effect, this will become a 4/6 Ambush commander that shoots support cannon for 4.

Noble Chancellor

This card is only in this variation of the deck because it is a commander. It is strictly worse than every other follower you could be playing in this slot. With support cannon out however, it can be used with Arthur to help clear boards but you will be replacing Cuhullin with this card.

Mulligans

Mulligans with Support Cannon are not always so straight forward. There are some matches where you definitely want to keep certain hands even if they look “sub optimal”.

Always Keep

Any 2PP followers

Priority Followers: Bladed Hedgehog -> Lancer or Cuhullin (This is better if you are going second. You can ditch this card if you are going first in most match ups) -> Holy Bear Knight -> Sky Commander Celia

Keeping Cuhullin at all can be awkward in certain matches as he is generally better in the late game.

Chromatic Duel

Any 3PP followers (Only if you got a 2 PP follower)

Going First

Support Cannon

So this is very dependent on the rest of what your hand looks like. If you are lacking a very strong early game, ditch this card immediately. You can always change modes to playing midrange instead of the support cannon.

Going Second

Gawain of the Round Table

Keeping this depends on what the remainder of your hand looks like. But more often than not, this is a very strong keep going second.

Arthur, Knight King

You ONLY keep this if you have Gawain as he helps put you back into the game against a really strong opener. Otherwise, you get rid of this card.

Match-ups

Favorable Matches

Midrange Swordcraft

Once you land a support cannon, this is almost impossible to lose. Of course, the problem is landing the support cannon haha.

If you are going first, it is imperative to deny your opponent access to Gawain. If they are Arthur on their turn 6 before you can play yours, you are going to be incredibly behind. If you are going second, you can actually play support cannon on the turn they they would use Gawain (turn 5) As a way of preventing them from getting it if you have a clear board.

Midrange Shadowcraft

Odile, Black Swan is still an incredibly powerful card against you. Although playing around it can be difficult, make sure to take it into consideration during the later turns.

Be mindful of how you approach the early game. Prince Catacomb is still quite good against sword in the early / mid game so focusing on trading with their followers. It does build their shadows but because of Lancer of the tempest, you aren’t as worried about your opponent’s eachtar turns as long as you keep them low on in play followers.

Aggro Sword (and other aggro decks)

Most of these matches play out the same. Although it is very important for you to preserve your life total.

You probably won’t be landing a support cannon in these matches as easily so your focus should simply be on using your rush followers to keep them from dealing a ton of damage to you.

Even Match Ups

Chimera Rune / Ginger Rune

Flood the board as much as possible. Both of these decks have a difficult time clearing big boards and if you are able to assemble a big board, it could put you in the drivers seat.

If you are unable to create a big board fast, it could be a problem for you as both decks are capable of dealing with your singular threats. This is where knowing how to play chromatic duel comes in handy. Queen Magus the black is an all-star against chimera rune while Queen Hemera the White is the same against ginger.

Control Forestcraft

Midrange Sword tends to have a difficult time against Control forest but not support cannon! Wanna know why? Of course you do! It’s because of support cannon!

This is probably one of the matches that you can play support cannon on 5 rather safely. Unless they are playing the Elf Song Variation. Then, that plan goes completely out the window!

Much like when you fight shadow, you need to keep the board clear. Wood of Brambles still wrecks you and you cannot allow forest to start assembling a board of recurring brambles. It is difficult to break out of that lock.

Summit Havencraft

Gemstone Carapace is very difficult for your deck to deal with because many of your early game followers either evolve into 4/4’s or 4/5 (Luminous Mage / Mars)

Sometimes, you can get away with using a Holy spellbomb on a summit temple. Without summit, this becomes far more manageable to play through.

Queen Magus the Black is the best card you can have here. Playing it on turns where you have a big board and you are trying to push for game can help prevent your opponent from blowing out your board with Jeanne, Beacon of Salvation.

Unfavorable Matches

Artifact Portal

As portal has some of the most PP efficient plays you can have in Shadowverse due to Acceleratium, you are bound to have a very difficult time maintaining a board.

Landing support cannon can certainly help in this match.

Try not to get into a trading match with portal. Deal as much damage to your opponent as you can. If you get stuck in a trade war, you are bound to lose because they can keep refilling their board and hands thanks to Dues Ex MachinaJormungand Bloodcraft

This is by far, your worst match up. Not only can’t you play support cannon, but you must safe your Valse’s for removing Jormungand from the game. This can be exceedingly difficult to do because of the other threats your opponent can play.

If even a single jor dies, you probably will lose the game because your board will probably be cleared constantly. Do your best to pressure your opponent as much as possible before it hits the board.

Nacht dying however is not so detrimental. In many ways, she actually can help you kill your opponent depending on how you have played until then.

Videos

Final thoughts

I have done 2 5-0 runs with support cannon in Grand Prix Mode and have amassed huge win streams both on stream and off stream using this deck. I high encourage you to take the time to experiment with the deck if you haven’t. I am aware that this list is a little “Wallet”. But, if you have the cards, go for it! You will be surprised at the effectiveness of this deck! Until next time!